Is Photo Verification Required on Tinder?

For most men, no. Tinder describes Photo Verification as optional: you take a short video selfie to show that you look like the photos on your profile. The exception is Face Check. Tinder has said this video selfie is required for new users in several countries and parts of the US, and that it plans to require it in more places. If you pass it and Tinder finds your face in one of your photos, you get the same Photo Verified badge.

Tinder runs two checks that feel similar and are not the same thing.

Photo Verification is the optional one. You choose to do it, usually to put the badge on your account. You start it by tapping the profile icon, then the gray checkmark by your name, then Continue.

Face Check is the required one, in the places where Tinder has made it part of signing up. New members there take a short video selfie inside the app before they can use it. Tinder says Face Check confirms two things: that a real person is physically present, and that their face matches the one in their photos. It also looks for the same face being used across more than one account.

So if you signed up somewhere Face Check applies, you have effectively already done it. If you did not, verification is your call.

The mechanics are close enough that the same preparation works for both.

You frame your face in the oval, follow the prompts and record a few seconds of video. Tinder's system checks that the video came from a live person and was not digitally altered, then compares your face with your photos. Tinder lists the common reasons a Photo Verification video is turned down:

• Your face is not prominent in the frame.
• Something blocks or covers it.
• Your expression is not neutral.
• The video is too dark or unclear.
• You do not look like the person in your photos.

So stand facing a window or a lamp, take off the sunglasses and the cap, keep your face relaxed, and fill the frame.

Even where nobody requires it, verifying is usually the right move.

Women on the apps are cautious about fake accounts. a dating coach's One Percent guides make the point that a man who looks too good to be true loses her trust before he has said anything. The badge tells her your photos are really you. That is one less thing for her to wonder about when she decides whether to like you back or answer your opener.

Tinder is careful to say the badge is a signal, not a promise of anyone's identity or safety. From her side, that is still a lot. A signal is more than an unverified man gives her.

The badge depends on your photos as much as on the video. Tinder gives you the Photo Verified badge only if your profile includes a clear solo photo of your face that looks like the face in your selfie.

That rule is a useful nudge. A set made entirely of group shots, sunglasses and distant mountain tops will fail it, and it would have been failing with women anyway. Put one clear, recent photo of you alone near the front, taken in daylight at eye level by a friend rather than at arm's length by you.

Keep in mind that the badge is not permanent if you change things. Tinder says deleting photos can mean verifying again, and any new photo you add is subject to continued verification.

Here is where most men stop too early.

The badge proves the man in the photos is you. It says nothing about whether those photos are any good, or whether your bio gives her a reason to write back. a dating coach's One Percent material compares a profile to marketing and the conversation to sales. When the marketing is strong, the sales conversation gets easy. A verified badge on top of weak marketing is a verified weak profile.

So after you verify, read your bio and your profile prompts the way she would. Cut the lists of adjectives. Replace them with one or two details she can picture and ask about, like the Thursday five-a-side game you never miss or the dinner you cook for friends on Sundays. A badge buys you a fair look. Those details are what she answers.

Photo Verification is optional on Tinder for most people. Face Check, a video selfie for new users, is required in some countries and parts of the US, and Tinder plans to require it in more places. Either one can earn you the Photo Verified badge. Get it, then make sure the photos and words it sits beside are worth verifying.